Davlin's Inner Demon
by spazenport
Summary: Davlin is about to lose his soul to Hell and is darn sure he isn't going to go down without a fight.


Davlin relaxed his grip on his swords and leaned casually against a tree. Ahead of him was a very clear path through the forest, and the only path that his quarry would seize to take.

The smell of sulfur was the first thing that the dwarf noticed. He relaxed a little more, confident in his safety. He'd even asked Jaffa not to be upset that he wasn't being summoned.

Within seconds of the sulfur smell, the demon was visible rushing up over the hill. He had reason to rush Davlin of course. Davlin had killed the troll who had summoned it, meaning that by the first full moon, tonight, the demon would be banished back to the Pit unless it avenged its master. To a demon, as well as anyone else, freedom was a much better alternative than the Pit.

Fire leapt from his eyes as he slowed to a stop about 20 feet short of Davlin. He was at least double Davlin's size, strength, and speed. He could also summon some pretty impressively destructive magic and had a very vicious looking set of wings.

"If I were being ye, I wouldn't attack me. A very large snake might get a little angry at ye." Davlin taunted as the demon started summoning dark energies.

"_I won't go back, dwarf._"

"So ye be sayin', but I ain't gonna allow ye to stay." Davlin raised his bow. At this distance he didn't even need to take aim, and the shot had already been charged with hunter's magic.

The shot leapt from the bow, the demon, being of demon skin, showed no fear and took the shot straight to the chest, only too late realizing his error. The shot had been charged with a hunter's Viper Sting. The demon's power was now closed off to him.

He roared in frustration and leapt at Davlin in bounds that closed the distance in a fraction of a second. As he swung a clawed swing that would remove an ogre's head, he sprung the trap that lay hidden in front of Davlin and froze solid in place. The perfect statue of the demon in full rage.

"Ha!" Davlin walked around the demon, frozen, and knocked on his arm (Davlin being too short to reach the demon's head). Then Davlin stood back, aimed his wrist launcher and netted the demon as well. The gnomish net gun was impossible to break out of for a certain amount of time (when it didn't backfire and net Davlin), and would hold the demon long enough for Davlin to send him back to the Pit.

"Ye see?" Davlin said as the ice trap broke and the demon was now stuck in the net. "For me to be sending ye back to Hell, I need to destroy yer body. In a fair fight, ye'd best me. Me? I don't believe in fighting fair, I believe in fighting smart." Davlin reached into his pack and pulled out a Fel Iron Bomb and attached it to the netting encompassing the demon, not noticing the Viper Sting wear off as he did so. The demon's hand shot out and grabbed Davlin's arm with enormous strength. Holding Davlin in place, he started to chant. Davlin struggled for a bit before sighing and letting out a shrill whistle.

Out of thin air, a large, red, wind serpent appeared and launched a lightning bolt from its mouth, catching the demon in its flank and shocking it enough to force its release of Davlin.

"I warned ye about me snake." Davlin looked down at his arm, now searing with pain where the demon had touched it, and pulled up the sleeve. There was the demon's hand print burned into his arm, and glowing faintly purple.

The demon started to laugh as Davlin stepped to a safe distance of the bomb, Jaffa close behind him.

"_We're spirit-linked now dwarf! I live, you live, I die, and you have three days before your soul flees your body to be with me. You kill me and you burn in Hell._"

Davlin sighed. He knew that already. He'd seen a spirit-link once before. He knew of no way to beat it.

Three days, or an eternity with a demon terrorizing folks…

"Aye? Then keep the fires burning nice and hot for me."

With that Davlin shot the bomb, the shockwave knocking him back, into Jaffa, who caught him with a grace from years of practice.

Davlin knew of no way to beat the spirit-link, but he sure wasn't going to let that stop him from trying.

An hour later, Davlin rested under his Flying Machine, wrench in hand, putting on the newest parts he managed to buy from a travelling trader. After the incident with the demon, Davlin had made haste back to his lighthouse in Westfall and had started prepping for what he would need to do. He was very engrossed in his work, time being of the essence, and failed to sense any approaching dangers.

Jaffa on the other hand, was alert, and unknowing of where the danger was coming from. Using his senses he followed what he could towards the dock.

As Jaffa hovered over the water, sniffing the air, and sensing about, a hand shot from the water and grabbed the flying serpent by the tail, pulling him under. It was a Night Elf, tall, and covered in plate armor. The two grappled under the water, trading blows, the elf with his hands and the beast with his tail and teeth. With a coil of his tail, Jaffa leapt back from his attacker and charged up a strike of lightning breath. The elf, knowing what was coming, started frantically shaking his head "No."

The blast launched both of them from the water, landing the elf next to the Flying Machine, and catching the attention of Davlin.

Not moving from his work, Davlin asked. "He kick your arse again?"

Dezaras, coughed and spasmed before answering. "Damn snake has a death wish. What kind of pet owner teaches his pet to throw lightning _in water_?"

"Any advantage." Davlin slid from under the Flying Machine as Jaffa, blackened in places by the blast, came sauntering up, showing as much pride as a snake could.

Davlin, weighted by his recent predicament, turned towards Dezaras, and, reaching into his pocket pulled out two whistles, one red and one white, each attached to a cord. "I need ye to hold these. The red one brings ye the snake, the white be for Horse."

Dezaras took them, sensing the darkness behind Davlin's eyes. "What's going on, Dav?"

"I be spirit-linked, to a demon. I'm going to find a way out of this, if I be too late, Jaffa likes ye, and Horse needs a home."

Dezaras understood completely. Silence hung between the two for a minute, then Dezaras held up the white one.

"You do know that Horse is a ram….right?"

Davlin laughed before he replied. "Aye, I do."

"What's your plan then?" Dezaras draped both whistles around his neck.

Davlin turned towards the Flying Machine and hit the collapse switch, that made it just the right size to fit in his pack. While the machine collapsed, Davlin explained. "Find me a warlock, find me an elf healer, talk them darn dragons in the Caverns of Time into rewinding time a wee bit, go to Hell. Each of them, in that order, with any luck I won't make it to the last."

"What do you say to a guy about to go to Hell?" Dezaras said, smiling.

Davlin laughed, "Good luck? I dunno. I be heading to Everlook, ye wanna come?"

Dezaras shook his head. "Not in that teleporter of yours, forget that dwarf. I think I'll start asking the High Council for suggestions. Obviously you can't stick around and wait for their answer."

"Aye." Davlin reached to his belt and cranked a dial on his Everlook teleporter. There was a bright red beam of light from the sky and Davlin vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Smoke? That's not good…" Dezaras commented.

Davlin flew out of the teleporter platform covered in flames. Immediately, as he had expected some sort of glitch, he started rolling in the snow as Goblins dowsed him in torrents of water.

He stood, still a little smokey, and looked wild eyed at the Goblins who dowsed him.

"HA! He's alright folks! No worries! You're the fifth to come out of the teleporter on fire, we're pretty sure that the problem is on our end." The Goblin pointed with his thumb toward a charred mass of corpses piled to the left of the teleporter. Davlin gulped.

Quickly pushing from his mind the smoking remains, he turned his attention towards the gryphons. Throwing the keeper a few coins he took off towards Darnassus.

Darnassus was its usual hustle of noise and people, trading everything that elves seemed to hold in high regard. This meant a whole lot of nothing to a dwarf who liked to tinker with machines, but a whole lot to a dwarf who'd recently been linked to a demon and thought that a healer or priest might be able to help.

Arriving he walked to the Temple of the Moon. As soon as he entered he was greeted as he had expected to be.

"Who's dying this time, Dav?" Tyrande Whisperwind, High Priestess of the temple appeared from the shadows. She had been instrumental in saving Kateff's life back in his days as Guild Master, and had managed the battle-torn of the Heroes of the Alliance ever since. Davlin had never come to her for himself, always carrying someone over his shoulder instead.

"Aye, just little ole me. No worries though, ye always said I was headed straight fer Hell." This sobered her enough that, for the first time that he could recall, Davlin observed emotion break her calm visage. It was shock. She walked over to him and immediately lifted his sleeve, sensing the link, now that she knew of something being wrong, and ran her hand over it, the demon-hand shaped scar much larger than her own.

"Tell me you didn't kill it."

Davlin laughed. "I said me some fancy words when I did it too. Well? What can ye do, Doc?"

"Darn you dwarf! If you'd have let it live you'd be able to live the immortal life of a demon, until someone else sent it to Hell. I can't save you from this."

Davlin's smile almost wavered. "How bout ye educate me instead. So maybe I can break this curse."

Tyrande sighed and walked him to a table. Without thinking she reached to a shelf and pulled a bottle marked "For the Dwarf," and handed it to Davlin, who immediately started chugging. "Aye, that's why I like you Ty, you always carry me ale."

"You're toxin, you mean, and don't call me Ty." She turned towards him crossing her arms over her chest. "The spirit-link is usually forced upon demons because it works both ways. As long as the demon lives, you're immortal. Warlocks would force this to ensure their immortality, well, the crazier warlocks. It also made the Warlock slightly more vulnerable to agitation, and over time they'd be able to summon powers that their demons could normally access. After decades, the remnants of the warlock's soul are no longer discernable from that of the demon. Its all corrupting over time. Lucky for you though, you killed it, meaning you'll be 100 you when the link drags you into Hell."

"That'll be quite the surprise on Hell then. No prison down there can hold me, I promise ye that."

"It can be broken though," Tyrande said hesitantly. Davlin's attention perked up from his still, surprisingly cheery attitude. "If the link is visible, both you and the demon in one place, then a warlock can sever it."

Davlin punched the air in excitement. "I knew it! Ye can't keep a good dwarf down. I just need me a warlock to summon this demon."

"If you know the demon's name."

Davlin's excitement waned. "I failed to exchange pleasantries with the beast before I blasted it back to Hell."

Davlin chugged the bottle some more. Tyrande looked at him sadly. "I'm sorry I can't help you."

Davlin slammed the bottle, now empty down and laughed hard. "Don't be sorry, ye helped me plenty. I now have a chance. My plan had been to storm into Hell make them wish they'd never pulled me under. I be crazy like that. Now I've got a new plan." Davlin started walking towards the door with that crazy look in his eye that always seemed to be there. "And the booze was delicious, Ty."

The gryphon landed with a skid as it came into Gadgetzan. This was where she'd be, so the Guild had informed him. Meleah, Mustafah, and Lotticey were supposed to be coming back from the Caverns of Time today, having just stopped some time dragons from destroying Ironforge before it was finished being built. As he landed he could already see them entering the city.

Davlin ran to catch up to them. When they turned to him, they laughed harder then they already had been.

"We met an ancestor of yours! A guy named Davnid. He was responsible for helping to set up the Great Forge." She was still laughing. "He's a clutz! Fell right into the molten metal, we were sure he was a gonner. He came out though, with his pants on fire screaming that his 'Hammer be meltin'!'" They all laughed a little harder. "We didn't know if he'd had any kids yet."

Mustafah pointed to Davlin, "Obviously he had."

They laughed some more, until everyone realized that Lotticey's laughter had ended a while back. She now held a stern look.

"Davlin…why do I smell evil?"

"Aye, I've not bathed in about 3 weeks. Being Guild Master is very time consuming…" She grabbed his arm, still shrouded in sleeve, and searing pain became visible on her face.

"Spirit-link," she gasped.

Everyone looked to Davlin. No one was laughing anymore.

"Aye, what can ye do fer me?"

She gave him the "Nothing" look and realized that he didn't want to hear it so she thought.

And thought.

Finally, she got an idea.

"We can anchor your soul. You've got that Gnomish Mind Control Cap? It just binds souls for a short period of time and the stronger gets control over the body. We'll bind a soul to yours that isn't going to Hell and it'll force the demon here. I should be able to sever the link then."

"Aye…um…no."

Meleah responded first. "What do you mean 'no'?"

"I traded it for booze about a week back."

Lotticey slapped her head, Mustafah laughed and Meleah smacked him.

"I can get me another one though. I just need to find me the Assassin."

It was Mustafah's turn to slap his head. "Can't you just build one, why do we need him?"

"It be that Gnome Engineering, I can't build one. He can. He's on a mission to kill some Tauren. I might be able to find him. Never done this before." He mumbled the last part as he reached towards his Net-Gun wrist launcher and pulled a strand of net rope out. Then he popped open the Everlook Transporter on his belt and removed a chunk of metal that read "Everlook: Do Not Remove." He placed the rope where the metal had been.

"The Assassin made the rope, the transporter should take me right to him. I'll need a hearthstone to get back to you guys." Meleah threw him hers without thinking about it. "Aye, thank you. I shouldn't be long." He pulled the switch. "Maybe if the teleporter lights me on fire the damnable demons'll go easy on me…"

In a bright red flash Davlin vanished.

He was lips to lips with a large male Tauren. Davlin leapt back and quickly gauged his surroundings. He was wearing a green dress, obviously fitted for a being much larger than he. He had none of his weapons, but had clutched the hearthstone hard enough that it had at least stayed with him. He was still himself, and was sitting in the middle of a large bar, at a table, across from a rather confused Tauren.

The Tauren's confusion quickly turned towards anger as it stood up and drew a sword.

"Ye not being my type neither!" Davlin yelled, and he threw the table up and let out a shrill whistle.

Jaffa sprang into action and stood between Davlin and the other, now rowdy for a fight, patrons. From the rafters dropped a human, and he landed right next to Davlin, now backed against a wall.

"Mummler! I was searchin' for ya. We need to talk."

"Let's get out of here first."

"Which one's the mark?" Davlin asked, gauging the large group of patrons.

Mummler, the Assassin, laughed a nervous laugh. "Your boyfriend." Davlin scowled at him, hiked up his skirt and yelled.

"JAFFA! BAR BUSTER!" Jaffa looked right at Davlin, who ducked as a lightning bolt blasted from the snake's throat and blew apart the wall behind the two Heroes. As the oncoming patrons launched at them, Davlin and Mummler dove out the hole. As they ran, Davlin mumbled into the hearthstone and grabbed Mummler. Before the hearth took them away, they saw Jaffa dragging a limp Tauren into the sky.

Davlin landed with Meleah's bow aimed at his head.

"Girly Tauren?"

"Mean one too…" said Mustafah, sword drawn, and a smear of blood under his nose. "She punched me." The other Heroes helped Mummler and Davlin to their feet.

"How much time to do you have, Dav?" Lotticey asked.

"An hour at most, travel time took too long."

Dezeras walked up behind them. "The High Council had no ideas, so I hearthed here as soon as I could. I figured you might need some help."

They quickly explained the situation to Mummler and he immediately started building a new helmet. Within minutes a crude mind cap had been made.

Davlin fitted it and asked for volunteers.

Mustafah jumped at the chance. "I always wanted to know what went on in that helmet."

Davlin activated the helmet, since Mustafah wasn't resisting, they merged minds very quickly. Mustafah's will was overpowering, and within moments, he'd managed to make Davlin start polishing his Sunbreaker Sword.

"Ye'll pay for this human…"

Mustafah turned towards Lotticey. "Now what?"

She was grimacing. "Its happening now, look at his eyes."

Davlin's eyes were on fire. As the mind cap had blended their souls, Mustafah's soon were on fire too.

In their minds they felt a fire etch across them and heard the laughter of the demon. The strength of his pull through the link was incredibly strong. The two being of one mind they fought back. Pulling and pulling, the Heroes physical forms were rooted in place, eyes flaming wildly, while their spiritual forms conducted a tug of war with a very powerful demon.

Through Mustafah and Davlin's mouths, the demon spoke. "_The dwarf was my winnings, the human's a bonus_." The Heroes kept straining, only Lotticey, a warlock could see their spirits in turmoil.

"We be gaining no ground!" Davlin's voice came from Mustafah.

"Don't…give….up…" Mustafah strained through clenched teeth.

The rest of the party could only watch as the two strained to dowse the fires that consumed their minds.

Davlin spoke up, clearer than he had previously, less strain in his voice. "As much as I'd like ye by my side fighting the hordes of Hell, this is my fight Mustafah. I made my bed, I'll lie in it." Davlin relaxed, reached up and knocked the Mind Cap from his head.

Mustafah immediately returned to himself. "No!" and ran towards Davlin, now completely consumed by demon fire. Davlin threw up his arms and shield of fire encompassed his body, the explosion blasting Mustafah back.

"_He's MINE!_" and with that, the flames disappeared and Davlin lost all life from his eyes.

The Heroes circled his body too taken aback to believe that their Guild Master was gone. Their shock was only interrupted by Lotticey's laughing.

Dezaras confronted her. "How can you laugh?"

"Its not so bad guys," she said. "I couldn't summon the demon here because we didn't know his name. With Davlin with him, they're connected, spiritually one and both stuck in Hell. For all intents and purposes, Davlin's a demon, and I know his name."

The ray of hope shined in everyone's eyes except for Dezaras'. "This'll bring the demon back."

"This'll make him physical," Lotticey said, sounding sure. "If he's physical, I can see the spirit-link between them and break it. Then of course, you'll have to kill the demon."

As Lotticey prepared to summon Davlin and his captor, the Heroes all prepared for the unknown, which meant that they all raised their weapons at Davlin's corpse.

As Lotticey began chanting they could hear faint cussing, the kind that Davlin only ever reserved for very hard fights. The chanting ended in a crescendo that was followed by a convulsion from Davin's body.

As they watched, Davlin rose, using his bow as a cruch, and pushed himself to his feet.

"Thanks." He said and immediately drew an arrow and launched it into Dezaras' chest.

A shrill laugh that was definitely not Davlin's erupted from the dwarf.

Lotticey yelled over it. "Their both in there fighting for control, we've gotta get them separated."

"How?" begged Meleah as she held her drawn bow on Davlin, who was stalking forward, seemingly larger then he ever had been with eyes aflame.

"I have no idea." Lotticey surrendered.

The hulking Davlin spoke up next, strained. "Shoot me, don't ye heist-"

He was cut off as a flurry of arrows and bullets from Mummler, Meleah, and Mustafah, as well as a blast of shadow magic from Lotticey erupted into his chest. He fell back with a loud thud before rising again, seemingly unfazed.

"At least pretend to think about it next time." Davlin shouted, before being drowned out by the demon.

"_My turn._" He launched forward with an amazing speed and backhanded each of them with a demon's strength.

The plate mail on Dezaras' chest save him from being killed from the explosive arrow Davlin/the demon had launched. He rose, having recovered, and ran at Davlin.

As he dove, blades raised, towards his former comrade, Davlin let out another shrill sound. A whistle.

Dezaras was whisked into the sky by a large red wind serpent, carried to fatal heights.

"Put me down, Jaffa! That's not Davlin!" He knew that Jaffa could hear him but couldn't follow the order. Jaffa, being Davlin's guardian, had to listen to what his master commanded. Right now that command was "Kill."

Back on the ground the demon raised Davlin's net launcher and tackled Mummler with it, following which he threw an ice trap at Meleah who immediately froze in place and then shot a sleeping shot at Mustafah, knocking him out.

He then walked slowly up to Lotticey, who was trying to come up with something that could penetrate the strength that a demon in a living form had. He reared back, raising his sword for a strike when he heard his own whistle again.

The lightning bolt knocked him back hard, blasting him through the near wall that surrounded Gadgetzan. Standing from the rubble he only managed to take one step before Jaffa tackled him, followed by a flurry of blade attacks from Dezaras. The pummeled him relentlessly for several minutes before he finally stood and blasted them back with a torrent of demon-fire. The Heroes, freed during their reprieve, all stood, dazed and tired, not knowing what to try next, and preparing for the next attack.

"_Hey dwarf? This fighting smart doesn't seem to be working._" He laughed.

Davlin's mouth shot out his own voice next, as his hand flew towards his belt.

"Aye, and sometimes fightin' suicidally works too." He cranked the dial on the teleporter. "Watch out, Mummler!" was all he had time to say before he vanished in a blast of red light.

For several seconds, nothing happened. Eyes were all on Mummler as he looked around frantically, waiting for an oversized, possessed dwarf to fall onto him.

Finally, in another burst of red light, Davlin appeared behind Mummler, completely engulfed in flame. Through the flame they could hear Davlin and the demon shouting, one in complete pain, the other screaming "Shoot Me!"

The Heroes opened fire, putting all of their spells, rage and energy into blasting their guild master. Finally, in an insane howl, Davlin's head pitched back and the demon leapt from his body. Davlin returned to his size, still on fire as the demon ran straight at Lotticey.

While Mummler and Meleah patted Davlin out with their capes, Mustafah already applying bandages, Dezaras turned towards the demon, who was now almost to Lotticey and blew hard on the whistle that Davlin had given him almost three days before.

Jaffa once again blasted the demon with a strong lightning bolt, knocking it onto its back. Following this up with a tackle, Jaffa used all of his animal ferocity to keep the demon on the ground. As he worked, Lotticey jumped onto the demon's chest and started chanting.

When she leapt off, Jaffa followed. The demon jumped to his feet and leapt at Lotticey, only to hit an invisible wall. Davlin, now only smoking, walked up, being helped along by Meleah and Mustafah, as Mummler stood at the edge of the demon's magical barrier, eyeing him.

Lotticey continued with a new chant as Davlin came face to face with the demon again. They only glared at each other.

When Lotticey finished chanting the Heroes could see a gold beam of energy attaching Davlin's arm, where the hand print was, to the demon's chest. Lotticey walked up to it, pulled a wand out and touched it. The link vanished instantly.

Davlin shrugged off his friends and stepped even closer to the magical barrier. "Drop it." He stated calmly.

Everyone started to argue except for Mustafah and Dezaras. Davlin silenced them all by repeating himself much louder.

Lotticey said a few words and the barrier flashed and fell. The demon and Davlin continued to glare at each other. Jaffa was about a yard behind Davlin, held in check by Dezaras' will.

The demon lifted its head, as if to roar, at the same time rearing its arm back for a strike as Davlin shoved an adamantite grenade into its mouth. As Davlin did so, he let out his own shrill whistle and ducked. A searing white hot lightning bolt blasted the demon backwards. Before it hit ground, the demon was in pieces all over the Tanaris desert.

"For the last time, ye blasted idiot. I be telling ye the truth!" Davlin sat across from Kateff at his favorite bar in Ironforge.

Kateff polished off his ale and signaled for another before saying. "So, you're telling me that you were possessed, lit on fire, twice even, shot, stabbed, and blasted by multiple lightning bolts?"

Davlin threw up his hands. "Aye, that's what I be tellin' ye. Dammit, why does that seem so hard to believe?"

Kateff accepted his next ale as it came and looked up at him. "And that's your reason for missing last week's meeting?"

Davlin shrugged. "Aye. Ask any of the Heroes. They'll tell ye!"

"Yeah, because Dezaras is a reliable witness…"

Davlin slammed his hand down, splashing ale.

"I'm tellin' ye the truth!" He yelled.

"Right…"


End file.
